Sethworks Mooseum Annex Exhibit: Review of the Seth Video

Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 10:31:04 -0400
From: Philip Stephens
Subject: Review of the Seth video

Last night I had the opportunity at long last to view the Seth video, which is apparently the only surviving visual record of Jane Roberts channelling Seth.

I have been wanting to purchase a copy of this video for years, so when it finally arrived on my doorstep I was pretty excited. I was also feeling some trepidation about viewing it, for two reasons: firstly, I didn't want to be disappointed or even discover that I didn't believe Jane was being sincere; secondly, my girlfriend was going to see it and she had only read a bit of the Seth material and wasn't hooked on it like I am :-)

The first half hour of the video was an interview with Jane and Robert for a local TV station (by the looks of it). The interviewer was pretty bad, waving his hands around wildly and seemingly incapable of expressing himself concisely! I was pretty impressed by Jane and Rob's handling of the situation, actually; they managed to answer his babbling questions intelligently. The interview itself was pretty boring, but it providing us with a good idea of what Jane and Rob were like.

Naturally, they weren't quite as I had pictured :-) My girlfriend remarked that Jane was quite homely, which is probably as good a summary as any. She could have done with a good dentist to straighten out those teeth 8-) Looks aside, she was a little shy at first but gradually warmed up to the questions and was pretty articulate.

Rob was more calm and serene, as I've always pictured him from reading the Seth Material. He had a pretty wild head of hair, making him look a bit like a hippy (and definately like an artist :-), which totally belied his manner.

The second half of the video showed some excerpts from an ESP class, with Jane channelling Seth for a group of people who also looked like hippies; definately 70's material here :-) The quality of the video recording was appalling, but even through all the fog Seth was an imposing personality.

The difference that came over Jane when she was channelling was quite remarkable. You could literally *see* the difference in her face. My girlfriend felt that as Seth, Jane looked like an older distinguished gentleman of predominately German decent, but with a bit of Englishman and Indian guru thrown in :-) As Seth, Jane had very piercing eyes and a VERY forceful and often loud voice! Seth had a tendancy to end words with an "a", such as "funna". My girlfriend remarked that this habit was typical of German people who are not completely familiarised with the english language; the "a" is a used as a filler word like "um" or "err". I don't know whether this is true or not, but it seemed to fit the way Seth was speaking.

The first couple of minutes of channelling showed Seth rather subdued; he frequently paused in his delivery, and Jane had this perpetual frown and downturned mouth that made Seth looked very serious indeed! But as the session progressed Seth became increasingly animated and expressive, and the humour and wit I've come to admire in the Seth books became quite evident. Even though the voice wasn't anything like I'd imagined, the personality of Seth was EXACTLY the way I had envisioned from reading his books.

During the session we got to see Jane come out of her trance state twice. My girlfriend was amazed (as was I) that you could literally see Seth and Jane "switch places" by watching Jane's face; as Seth withdrew, Jane would reassert herself and be out of trance almost immediately. The transformation was quite remarkable, and it was that more than anything that impressed my girlfriend so much that she is now really eagar to read more of the Seth books. Hehehe, another "convert" :-)

What was interesting for me was how Jane seemed to be infused with energy when she came out of trance, and in quite a jovial mood. This contrasts with another so-called channeller I saw on TV many years ago who came out of her trance acting completely drained and exhausted from the experience (that channeller wasn't very convincing to me, as the channelled entity wasn't very articulate and even reacted negatively to critisism from the audience).

My only disappointment was that they edited out the interaction between Seth and the people attending the session. So we only got to see Seth give a couple of lengthy monologues, although once or twice he did address a class member, and even spoke directly to the viewing audience at one point (which made me feel very priviliged :-)

Overall I was very happy to have seen this video recording of Jane, Rob and Seth. I'm now more convinced than ever that Jane and Rob were on the level, and almost wish I'd been able to attend an ESP class and met Seth in "person". If any of you get a chance to watch the Seth video, I'd recommend it wholeheartedly.

Warm regards to you all Philip Stephens

Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 14:24:09 +0000
From: Vjim
Subject: Re: Review of the Seth video

[[Repeated portions of quoted message deleted]]

Philip,
Excellent review. A good keeper for the Mooseum. (we've also seen it)

Vjim

Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 17:32:53 +0200
From: ac_bauer@ping.at (Andreas C. Bauer)
Subject: Re: Review of the Seth video

thanks a lot for the review! Interesting in retrospect, now that I'm more than a year on SethWorks, I don't remember that anyone ever gave a review of the one single video there is of Jane channelling Seth. To me you're the first, thanks again.

My girlfriend felt that as Seth, Jane looked like an older distinguished gentleman of predominately German decent, but with a bit of Englishman and Indian guru thrown in :-)

My girlfriend remarked that this habit was typical of German people who are not completely familiarised with the english language; the "a" is a used as a filler word like "um" or "err". I don't know whether this is true or not, but it seemed to fit the way Seth was speaking.

Andy - ah - from - ah - Austri-ah :-)

Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 12:07:53 +0000
From: Joann
Subject: Re: Review of the Seth video

I don't remember that anyone ever gave a review of the one single video there is of Jane channelling Seth.

Philip,

Yes, I really loved actually seeing Seth come through and wished that the whole video had been clips of the class sessions!

Also, when I was still living in California, I had sent the audio tapes of Seth to the New York contingent of our seth group. They all got together for the Wednesday night meeting and played them. When they first heard Seth's voice, most of them fell to the floor laughing! Vjim (who had listened to Seth's voice many times before) was horrified and waiting for lightening to strike them all!!!! (GGG).

I think on hearing the voice without having seen the physical transformation, accentuates the strange quality of Seth's speech. When I finally saw the video footage, it was wonderful to see the mannerisms that went along with the voice!

Joann

Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 15:12:01 -0700
From: mui 
Subject: Re: Review of the Seth video

[[Repeated portion of quoted text deleted]]

I've seen the video a couple times and had the same reaction as you did. I loved it when he said, "YOU CREATE YOUR OWN REALITAAAY." Hearing it spoken out loud was a kick after reading it so many times in the book. I too recommend it wholeheartedly, and you can just skip that idiot at the beginning, who uses up way too much of the interview time saying absolutely nothing.

Mui

Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 16:59:17 -0600
From: Vernon Crawford
Subject: Seth video - audio

As I have said before, consider the audio tapes also.... They were recorded in the ESP classes...

vernon

Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 20:31:17 -0700
From: Linnaea R.
Subject: Re: Seth video - audio

Thank you for the review. I have a copy of the tape. Haven't seen it in a while, but just the discussions around it and Jane's esp classes have recalled for me one of the hallmark events of my life. In many ways, perhaps, it had similarities to the NDE experiences described by Patsy and Vernon, but I didn't die. I was reading a transcript of one of the ESP classes. I read one sentence. "The sumari always come home". For the next 7 hours this sumari definitely went home. It changed my life irrevocably. Thank you for the reminder and the geniunely wonderful way in which you reviewed the unique experience of seeing Seth after reading him for so many years. Also it's nice to see you in print again!

Linnaea

Date: Wed, 10 Jul 96 22:19 CDT
From: Barry
Subject: Seth on Film

But Rob mentions a couple of instances when Seth came through during filmed broadcasts made during the book tour for "The Seth Material" in 1970. One of these in particular (in Boston, I think) Rob mentions in a later book, saying that they still get calls occasionally about it.

Has anyone looked for these earlier films? Has there ever been anything in "Reality Change" about them? (I regret to say I've never seen a copy of this magazine.) I imagine spools of film gathering dust in some warehouse, someday to be thrown away when the space is needed . . . .

Incidentally, there is a certain irony in Seth coming through in Boston, since that is where Jane lived in the 19th century, working as a spiritualist medium.

Barry
Madison, WI

Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 08:47:27 -0400
From: Marsha F. Brown
Subject: Re: Review of the Seth video

Besides all the wonderful things that Joann and Phillipe said I have to say it brought out some serious beliefs for me.

When I first saw Jane I felt a bit revulsed at the homliness of her. Somhow the whole interview gave me a trailer park feel. Well, I didn't like the judgements coming out of my mind. I realized that I have a huge belief about only beautiful people doing anything of true worth.

This is not a useful belief. It is one a adopted from my grandmother I think.

And as for The Jane and Seth transformation, amazing and yet so simple and ordinary. I had been prepared for the voice having heard the Rick Stack tapes but I never would have thought that Janes voice was so high and thin. Seth just booms out of her body.

It was also difficult for me to see how hard it was for her to turn her head and theawkwardness of her smoking a cigarette. I am reading Dreams... right now and it just illistrates what the problems were. It makes Seth's material on it that much more understandable.

Love Peace and Freedom
Marsha
*All statement made entirely from my realilty and may not be applicable in anyone elses head:)*

Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 14:31 EST
From: FRANK WEBSTER
Subject: Re: Seth Video

"When I first saw Jane I felt a bit revulsed at the homeliness of her."

You are being kind -- you should have heard the reactions from my non-Seth friends when I first played the tape. We lost a lot of converts that night!

"Somehow the whole interview gave me a trailer park feel."

ROTFL! ! ! ! This ain't no party! This ain't no disco! This is where Kristy and I grew up! Welcome to the Greater Corning/Elmira Area!

I still haven't gotten over my belief that Seth should sound like Alfred Hitchcock -- that's how I imagined him during all those years of reading.

Thanks, Marsh, I needed that!

Frank Jersey City, New Jersey USA

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email: frank@edunet.tc.columbia.edu

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Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 15:55:39 -0400
From: Philip Stephens
Subject: Re: Review of the Seth video

>Did Seth ever mention that he lived/lives a life in Germany or India? I
>remember the Netherlands. Can anyone fill me in?

I don't recall Seth talking about any specific incarnations in Germany or India. Then again, he didn't bother to spell out many of his earthly lives; the one I remember the best is his "minor Pope", which was quite hilarious the way he told it :-)

>Bright girl your girlfriend Philip! It's true, Germans (and Austrians too)
>often use the word "ah" (the "h" means that it is pronounced as a long "a")
>as a filler when not knowing what to say. It's considered bad manners, but
>many, many people use it - ah - when - ah - not really - ah - knowing - ah
>- what to say - ah -. ;-)

I found it kinda funny that Seth "ummmed" and "errred" like the best of us! If Jeanne (my girlfriend) hadn't explained what "ah" meant, I would have been wondering what kind of weird language Seth was speaking in :-)

Joann wrote:

>I think we've talked about it, mostly moaning over the interviewer's
>lack of finesse (G). But no one has offered up as wonderful a review
>as Philip has given us!

Gee, thanks Joann! (*blush* *blush*)

That interviewer made Jeanne and I laugh! If he had only shut his mouth and let Jane and Rob talk it might have been a more interesting interview. I know these local TV stations in America aren't suppose to be all that professional, but gee, that guy just took the cake!

>Yes, I really loved actually seeing Seth come through and wished that
>the whole video had been clips of the class sessions!

Absolutely! It would have been fantastic to see a full class session. Having read one volume of "Conversations with Seth", some of those classes were really wild and a lot of fun. Towards the end of the Seth video we get to see Seth really hitting his stride, but I was left wanting to see more!

>Also, when I was still living in California, I had sent the audio
>tapes of Seth to the New York contingent of our seth group. They all
>got together for the Wednesday night meeting and played them. When
>they first heard Seth's voice, most of them fell to the floor
>laughing! Vjim (who had listened to Seth's voice many times before)
>was horrified and waiting for lightening to strike them all!!!!

*Laughs*. I was almost expecting the same reaction from Jeanne. I had braced myself in case she though the channelling was all a lot of bollocks, but fortunately I was spared that humiliation -- just.

The truth is, during the first part of the interview I was thinking to myself that Jane and Rob sounded a bit too much like they were tripping out! Jeanne was looking at Jane's cigerette and the plant behind her rocker and asking "is that a marijani plant there, is she smoking a joint?". I was ready to run out of the room and hide under the bed if she started laughing at Jane channelling Seth :-)

The first couple of minutes of watching Seth come through left me a bit worried. The accent sounded really funny, Seth was pausing quite often in a very slow delivery, and I was thinking "God Jane looks serious, can't she at least put on a smile?". I was beginning to get a sinking feeling when Seth suddenly started to come through a lot more charismatically, and suddenly I was watching Seth as I had always envisioned him to be.

Not long after that Jeanne noticed how Jane looked very different around the face when she was channelling. We both had close look and I realised Jane looked exactly like Rob had described her in the Seth books when she was in a trance, and I let out a sigh of relief. Then when Jane came out of the trance and Jeanne exclaimed "Look at that, you could see Seth and Jane switch places" I knew she was getting into it and I wasn't going to have to turn off the video in embarrassment after all :-)

>When I finally saw the video footage, it was wonderful to see the mannerisms
>that went along with the voice!

What I liked was how Seth seemed incapable of subtle expressions! Not only did he boom out all the words as if everyone was deaf, and stare out at everyone in a very intense manner, he'd also pull back the muscles around Jane's mouth and almost grimace as he spoke. It was kinda funny, as it gave the impression that he didn't quite know how to use Jane's body and was overcompensating, or didn't know his own "strength" :-)

Barry wrote:

>But Rob mentions a couple of instances when Seth came through during filmed
>broadcasts made during the book tour for "The Seth Material" in 1970. One of
>these in particular (in Boston, I think) Rob mentions in a later book, saying
>that they still get calls occasionally about it.

I remember Seth had a TV appearance at a studio where the interviewer clearly didn't believe that Jane was for real, and then Seth came through and left the interviewer and the rest of the crew just staring open-mouthed (I'm paraphrasing of course :-) That would have been a sight to see!

>I imagine spools of film gathering dust in some warehouse, someday to be
>thrown away when the space is needed . . . .

Perhaps if we wish hard enough, we can bring it back into our reality :-) I'd love to see it, myself.

Linnaea wrote:

>I was reading a transcript of one of the ESP classes. I read one sentence.
>"The sumari always come home". For the next 7 hours this sumari definitely
>went home. It changed my life irrevocably.

How about some elaboration, Linnaea, this sounds fascinating!

Marsha wrote:

>When I first saw Jane I felt a bit revulsed at the homliness of her.

I must admit I felt the same way, Marsha! That and her manner made me think that Jane looked like a typical wannabe New Ager or psychic, and I had to mentally slap myself over the face and say: "Now, now, Philip, no pre-judgements please!". Once I saw the brief clips of Jane coming out of trance and smiling and joking, however, I realised those first impressions were false. She was clearly more at ease surrounded by class members than she was in the interview itself.

>It was also difficult for me to see how hard it was for her to turn her head
>and the awkwardness of her smoking a cigarette.

Yes, even then she was suffering from her arthitis, and it shows. Jane was certainly one courageous woman.

Mui wrote:

>I've seen the video a couple times and had the same reaction as you did. I
>loved it when he said, "YOU CREATE YOUR OWN REALITAAAY."

Yes, I got a kick out of the way he pronounced "realitaay" too :-) The accent was a real scream, but at the same time it gave Seth an air of wisdom that I really liked.

Warm regards to you all, Philip Stephens

Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 18:58:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: Carole P.
Subject: Re: Review of the Seth video

Carole P

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